Cubs are inexplicably planning on starting Drew Smyly again this weekend

I'm not saying Drew Smyly shouldn't start this weekend for the Cubs because he got rocked by the Tigers on Tuesday. I'm saying he shouldn't keep his spot in the rotation (which he already briefly lost once) because he's been as ineffective as they come since Memorial Day weekend. And, in case you haven't seen a calendar lately, Labor Day is right around the corner.

He's been bad for, quite literally, the entire summer - and yet, David Ross plans on trotting him back out there this weekend against Pittsburgh for reasons that totally evade me at this point.

"I thought he was settling in right there until that last inning. A couple of soft-contact balls fall in front of guys, and obviously the home run. Big, crooked numbers there. Just need to need to be a little bit better."

David Ross on Drew Smyly's latest start

We're way past needing to be a little bit better, Rossy. In his last three starts, Smyly has allowed a laughable 19 earned runs in 13 1/3 innings of work, including Tuesday's seven earned in 3 2/3 frames in a loss to Detroit. The issue, as we're all well aware, is how shorthanded the Cubs are in the rotation without Marcus Stroman.

"I'd love to pitch better. The team needs me. I need to pitch better. You know, these games should be fun; they're meaningful. And I just have to play better.”"

Drew Smyly, via MLB.com

Cubs have to try someone else instead of starting Drew Smyly again

But at this point, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who's going to pitch any worse than Smyly, whose ERA is pushing 7.50 since May 28. Ben Brown is still weeks away from returning, but it seems like the organization is trying to find some sort of internal solution, stretching out Shane Greene at Iowa and scratching Jordan Wicks from his outing on Wednesday afternoon (a possible call-up in the works?)

But even looking on the 26-man, I'd love to hear the reasoning for sticking with Smyly over giving Hayden Wesneski a start. The young right-hander has been disappointment this year, sure, but, again, at his worst, he'll do what Smyly's been doing every five days since May anyway. There's at least a chance he could keep Chicago in the ballgame, something the veteran left-hander hasn't done in some time.